Field
This disclosure is generally related to Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) injectors. More specifically, this disclosure is related to a PoE-enabled device that provides wireless access to a local area network, and which may be configured to receive or send external-reset signals over a pin of an Ethernet cable for performing a remote-triggered reboot cycle.
Related Art
Power over Ethernet (PoE) provides a way to safely pass electrical power along with data via an Ethernet cable, such as a category 5 cable. This allows client devices, such as sensor nodes, to receive electrical power without having to place the device near a power outlet. Unfortunately, not all network routers and switches provide electrical power via their Ethernet ports.
Oftentimes users can use a PoE injector, which has its own power supply coupled to a power outlet, to inject electrical power into an Ethernet cable. For example, if the Ethernet cable is coupled to a network router or switch, the Ethernet cable can provide a target network device with access to the router's local area network (LAN), while also providing power for the target network device. However, typical PoE injectors do not provide wireless access to the LAN, and adding a typical wireless LAN access point to the network connection requires access to an additional power outlet.
To make matters worse, network devices that receive power from the PoE injector are oftentimes installed at a remote and hard-to-reach location. For example, a sensor or wireless access point may be installed on a corner of a tall ceiling or on a tall rooftop antenna for maximal coverage, which makes it difficult to access the device for maintenance. If the network device needs to be reset to factory-default settings, a user would typically need to access the device itself to physically hold down a reset button on the device until the device reboots into a factory-default setting.